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TWENTY-TWO 
MESSAGES FOR YOU 



BY 
JUDITH L. C. GARNETT 

Author of **Sermons in Rhyme" 




THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 

440 Fourth Avenue, New York 
MCMXVIII 



<,<^ 






Copyright, 1918, by 
Judith L. C. Garnett 



tr*: 



Oci.A511149 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Mine Enemy! 7 

Freedom! 1q 

The Only Cure 13 

Remorse! i 15 

The King of Fools 18 

Too Late! 19 

Conscripted 20 

A Mere Man 21 

All Teachers, and What Do You Teach? ... 23 

Judas 24 

Faithfulness 25 

The Wise Man's Answer 26 

In a Class House 27 

What JNext? 29 

The Wail of the Suffragist 31 

The World's Answer 32 

But What Does God Say? 34 

Cain 35 

I'RIUMPH 3g 

JOSIAH A gg 

While You Loiter . . . . ^ 40 

"And Then There Came a Still Small Voice" . 41 



MINE ENEMY! 

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, — Matthew v, 4i' 
If thine enemy hunger, feed him,; if he thirst, give him 

drink. — Romans xii, 20, 
After this manner therefore pray ye. — Matthew vi, 9. 
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. — 

Matthew vi, 12, 
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will 
your Father forgive your trespasses, — Matthew vi, 
15, 

Mine enemy, mine enemy, 
Shall men affront their God, — 

His mighty plan of grace ignore, — 
And crash you as a clod? 

Mine enemy, mine enemy. 

How dare I do you harm ? 
Come, let me feed you from my store,— 

Protect you with my arm. 

Mine enemy, mine enemy, — 

My steel against your breast ! 
And yet I dare to call on God, 

Dare pray for peace and rest! 

Mine enemy, mine enemy. 
How great the day would be 
7 



If you and I, as true, bought ^ sons, 
The face of God might see. 

Mine enemy, mine enemy, 

To each is granted this : 
The power to choose the night of Hell, 

Or light of God, and bliss. 

Mine enemy, mine enemy. 

Let us this text recall : 
The Mill of God grinds steadily 

And with exactness — all ! 

Mine enemy, mine enemy, 

By my soul's gift alone 
May I attain my recompense — 

One reaps as he has sown. 

Mine enemy, mine enemy, 
What brutish lust abounds ! 

It gluts the beast that knows not God 
But gloats on blood and wounds. 

Mine enemy, mine enemy. 
These words are but too true : 

1 For ye are bought with a price, — I Cor. vi, 20. 

8 



There is no God to save my soul, 
If I weep not for you. 

Mine enemy, mine enemy, 
Look on these signs of guilt : 

A wasted world bedrenched with blood, 
A sword red to the hilt ! 



FREEDOM! 

// the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall he 
free indeed. — Bt. John viii, 36. 

The battle is on, my Saviour, — 

Thy battle for those Thou wouldst free ! 

In the thick of the fray Thou wilt find me, 
Fighting ever in service of Thee. 

The battle is on, my Saviour ! — 

In my heart is, deep-planted. Thy word ; 

And Thy glorified sword that I 'm bearing 
May I plant in Thy foe's heart, dear Lord ! 

The battle is on, my Saviour! 

In hordes come the hirelings of Hell ; 
Like a ^^brasen wall" ^ make me to front them. 

Which nor mortals nor demons can fell. 

The battle is on, my Saviour ! — 
And though prison and scourging there be, 

'Spite of taunts and the arch-fiend's own weap- 
ons, 
I shall ever rejoice and be free ! 

1 Jeremiah xv, 20. 

10 



Yes, free from the torment of trying 
Thy fair footstool, this world, to destroy, 

Whereon the fiend's forces are fighting 
To wipe out Thy love, truth, and joy ! 

Free, too, from the curse that must echo 
From the wail of the widow that weeps 

O'er the blight that the blood-lust has scattered 
Through the world where, — drugged, helpless, 
— Peace sleeps. 

Free, too, from the hypocrite's burden, — 
He who still dares to call Thee his ^^Lord," 

Yet who blows on the devil's dread bugle 
And wields madly the devil's red sword ! 

Free from pharisaic transgression, — 
From condemning another's vile sin; 

Meanwhile failing forever to fathom 
The depth of crime's blackness within! 

Free, — free from the doom of the darkness 

Wherein Satan will fetter his own. 
Where the lash of remorse e'er must scourge 
them — 
Ah, 'twill then be too late to atone ! 

11 



Free when Thy fight's over, my Saviour, 
To wear glory's crown evermore, — 

After earth by fierce fires has been melted 
And no more shall there be sea nor shore. 

The battle will end, my Saviour, 
Wherein myriads have striven and died, — 

They that served the foul fiend will be wailing, 
They that fought for Thee, Lord, glorified. 



12 



THE ONLY CURB 

And I, if I he lifted up from the earth, will draw all 
men unto me. — St. John xii, 32. 

A reprobate world has harnessed 
Her beasts with silver and gold. 

Afar from the war-drums' rattle 

Hearts are bleeding with wounds untold, — 

Bleed both for the stained sword's victims, 
And the slayers on sea and shore; 

For Hate is the god both worship — 
Ah, how long will that power endure ? 

Not long! O'er war's din and death-rattle 

Resounds the Redeemer's voice. 
And many a slaughtering soldier's soul 

In this message will rejoice: 

**From my throne I descended to succor 

Mankind from fettering Hate; 
To teach that by Peace's pathway 

Alone may one reach Heaven's gate. 

'*To find for you. Brothers, freedom. 
As man I suffered, — I died; 
13 



Yet the war-lord would be triumphant— 
Was for this Christ crucified ? 

^ ^ Out of the depths of bloodshed, 

Men, look unto me ! 
Rise from the war-lust's bondage. 

My love shall set you free. 

^^Have you ceased to remember, my Brothers, 

That I am the Prince of Peace ? 
Yea ; but by faith in my mission 

Will all strife and discord cease.'' 

But with blaspheming, pseudo-praying 
The hell-bought guides the sword 

Of a world a-drunk with hatred; 
And ' ' Hate on. Men ! " is the word. 

Yet, hark! In death's hour, my Brothers, 
Comes the voice of the Prince of Peace : 

'^Ye must walk in my way. Thus only 
Will all strife and discord cease." 



14 



REMORSE! 

Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a 
man soweth, that shall he also reap, — Galatians vi, 
7. 

And in hell he lifted up his voice, being in torments. — 
Luke xvi, 23. 

Remorse! Remorse! Remorse! 
"When the day for your choice is done, 
When the prize that was sought by your in- 
famous soul 
Has been, — for all eternity, — won. 

Remorse! Remorse! Remorse! 
Yes ; that endless anguish to bear 
For the guilt that nor silver nor gold may re- 
deem, 
Nor the glory of conquest repair. 

Remorse! Remorse! Remorse! 
When you crouch in the Devil's lair 
After walking earth's way with the mien of a 
saint 
And the hypocrite's profaning prayer. 



15 



Eemorse! Eemorse! Remorse! 
When you chafe in the Devirs chains, 
Which no sword may sever nor scheming un- 
bind, — 
Nor riches, nor all earth's gains. 

Remorse! Remorse! Remorse! 
For the sins that you wantonly sow 
In the carnage that clogs the red, martyred 
earth, — 
In the tears that unceasingly flow ! 

Remorse! Remorse! Remorse! 
When you think of the orphans' cry, 
Of the widows' wail, of the curse of the hosts 
As they penned in the trenches lie. 

Remorse! Remorse! Remorse! 
For the ruin that you have wrought 
To the sacred shrines that now crumbling lie, — 
To the homes you have turned to naught ! 

Remorse! Remorse! Remorse! 
While the Devil will smile and preach, 

16 



You will hear but the moans of massacred men, 
Cannon's roar, and the rifle's screech. 

Remorse! Remorse! Remorse! 
Vainly respite will you implore 
Through the eons, while earth is melting away 
And the sea rests, parched, on the shore ! 



17 



THE KING OP FOOLS 

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. 
Psalms xiv, 1. 

God of love and might, 
A blind fool comes to Thee, — 

Through the black night of sin, 
Tossed on a shoreless sea ! 

Oh, pity. Lord, this fool, — 
What patience Thine must be ! — 

Who, though he sees and hears, 
Will neither hear nor see ! 



18 



TOO LATE! 

And the door was shut. — ^t, Matthew xxv, 10. 

On that grim portal where, sword drawn, 

A black-robed sentry stands, — 
To whose strong bars steel is as air. 

Or straw, or gauzy bands, — 
Where vainly Love sheds her sad tears 
And Hate strikes with mailed hands ; 

Yea ; on that door that mocks Love 's strength. 

And, too, the strength of Hate, 
Is writ in blood and tears the name 

That all men imprecate, 
While you, in outer darkness, cry : 

''Too late! too late! too late!" 



19 



CONSCRIPTED 

That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people he en- 
snared. — Joh xxxiVj SO. 

I thought the word was ' ' Freedom ! ' ' 
What slave will change with me, — 

For torture, hell, the trenches, — 
For torture, hell, the sea? 

I thought the word was ^^ Freedom!" 
What fiend will scorn to laugh. 

To see the cup that I, while gagged, 
Must firmly hold and quaff ? 

I thought the word was ^^ Freedom!" 

I see that freedom now 
Is but the iron hand, the arm. 

That brands my suffering brow. 

I thought the word was ^^ Freedom!" 
The '^ Kings" are fat and free; 

But I must bear their guilt, — the hell 
They heap on land and sea ! 



20 



A MERE MAN 

Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are. — 
James v, 17. 

Oh, somewhere a mere man will pray Grod to- 
day !— 
^^ There is nothing so strange about that," you 

will say. 
But hear you and heed you the truth of it all : 
While the stars stay and shine, when they break 

and they fall, 
Great things may transpire on the land and the 

sea 
Because of that prayer, whatever it be, — 
Great things may transpire at the home, at the 

mart. 
Because of the vision that filled that man's 

heart. 
Perhaps there may fall through the unheeding 

air 
Some jewel for me, brought by that mere man's 

prayer; 
That prayer may uplift from the soil and the 

sod 
Your heart and your life to the likeness of God ! 

21 



So, will you not kneel at the Great Throne to- 
day, 

Where the Almighty hearkens when a mere man 
shall pray? 



22 



ALL TEACHERS, AND WHAT DO YOU 
TEACH? 

For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to 
himself. — Romans xiv, 7. 

What do you teach as the days go by, 
As the hours pass and the moments fly ? 
As sure as you live, as sure as you'll die. 
There's something" you teach as the days go by. 



23 



JUDAS 

And Judas Iscariot went unto the chief priests, to he- 
tray him. — St. Mark ociv, 10. 

Not alone by ^reed of silver, nor for glint of gold 
Doth the world betray the Master, torture, 
crucify, — 
Nay; the ways of treachery are secret, mani- 
fold:— 

^^Lord, isiti?" 



24 



FAITHFULNESS 

Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make 
thee ruler over many things. — St. Matthew xxv, 23. 

Perhaps ^^in a house by the side of the road 

Where the race of men go by " ; 
Perhaps in a tent in the wild of the woods 

Where the trees throng thick and high ; 

Perhaps my strength at the brink of the grave, 
Where an old man leans for rest ; 

Perhaps my care for a child from the slums, 
To be fed and clothed and blest ; 

Perhaps my tears to flow and fall 

For the outcast woman's need; 
Perhaps my hands to knead and break 

The loaf for the starved tramp 's need, — 

But, wherever I be, whatever I do. 

Lord, let it be my best ! 
'* Faithful over a few things," — 

My guerdon. Thy joy and rest. 



25 



THE WISE MAN'S ANSWER 

For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul? — St, Mark viii, 36. 

Said the Devil : ^ ^ See my vast hosts, — 
See my flaming flags unfurled! 

Come, Man, now join my cohorts. 
And you may have the world. ' ' 

Said the "Wise Man to the Devil : 

^'Here I do not long delay, — 
I prefer my joys up yonder, 

Where I shall go to stay ! " 



26 



IN A GLASS HOUSE 

Cast out first the beam out of thine own eye. 
—St. Luke vi, 42. 

Said the Man of Mars to those who marched on 

land or sailed the sea : 
**I shudder for your dangers, wherever you may 

be. 
I warn you that the sky of doom will crack, will 

break, will fall ; 
I compassionate your ignorance, I will free yoii 

from its thrall. 
I long to liberate you; for your good I fairly 

thirst! 
I must snatch you from your perils, — but my 

war must kill you first. 

'^I must bind you for my service; on your soul 

must be a curse; 
There are others who have suffered, but 1 11 make 

you suffer worse. 
The world is full of war-fiends, on the land and 

on the sea; 
They would bind you hand and foot but for my 

great care, — and Me! 

27 



'^Wisely I behold your dangers, and I trap you, 

run or stand; 
I have marked you for the bullet, whether on the 

sea or land. 
I have stirred a big man's ire, and I'll make 

him madder yet; 
So your flesh must fill the breaches, — that you 

never must forget. 
My mission is to snatch the world from perils 

that ensnare. 
By dragging you through seas of blood, through 

flame, and battle's blare; 
My business is to torture you till all earth's 

slaves shall see 
How precious is our freedom, — how grand our 

liberty!" 



28 



WHAT NEXT? 

And God called the light Day^ and the darkness he called 
Night. And the evening and the morning were the 
first day. — Genesis i, 5. 

Now you shall not ever mention 

The time, or night or day, 
Though thou hast some foe to fly 

Or a troth that bids thee stay. 

Old Father Time must stay his scythe 

And rest his flowing sand; 
Or he will lose an hour of life, 

"Whether on the sea or land. 

The evening star, the morning star, 
The sun, the moon, the tide, — 

All mark the hour just as of old, 
Nor have they ever lied. 

At twelve o'clock the shadow true 

That falls upon the way 
Proclaims to all who care to look 

The hour of the day. 



29 



it 



At five o'clock in the morning" — five ! — 
^^The birds begin to sing''; 
But you must not allow your clock 
To dare say such a thing ! 

You must gag the wind and blind the sun 
And still the king-fowl's crow, — 

You must suppress the living truth 
Wherever you may go. 

The hour that once was is a thing 
That you must scorn and mock; 

For you are bid to live and die 
By an outraged, perjured clock! 



30 



THE WAIL OF THE SUFFEAGIST 

Every wise woman huildeth her house: hut the foolish 
plucketh it down with her hands. — Proverbs xiv, 1. 

I have found that nothing has e'er been done 

right, 
So 1 11 now boss the world with the whole of my 

might; 
For man is but like a poor sheep or a goat, — 
So his troublesome loads I must now, perforce, 

tote ; 
I must make him work harder, must spend all his 

gold; 
But he shan't say a word other than he is told; 
And if he 11 be good, if he 11 answer my rote. 
He may go to the polls, and 111 teach him to 

vote. 
God 's plan and instructions are nothing to me, — 
I must sweep off the earth, I must wipe up the 

sea ! 
If the ^^head of the house'' is naught but a mere 

man, 
I shall mash his sap-head with a hot frying-pan ! 
Having altered the times and the. vows of a bride, 
I must now change the sea and the wind and the 

tide. 

31 



THE WORLD'S ANSWER 

Not as the world giveth give I unto you. 
—St. John xiv, 27. 

Two men did wander 

By land and by sea, 
When one said : ^ ^ I 'm dying ; 

Oh, woe — wbe is me! 

^'What happiness is there, 
"Where'er one may be. 

For a man who is dying, 
Be he bondman or freeT' 

And the other one said : 

'^I live, — that is my plight! 

I need a great friend 

Both by day and by night. 

'^My doom is to live. 
And I fain would live right. 

Yes ; to live, not be dead, — 
Therein lies my plight." 



32 



And the World lightly answered 
Their word and their gaze, 

As she hurried along 

In the mad dance's maze: 

^^I commend you to somewhere 
Of torment and blaze! — 

Look! This dance that I dance 
Is the very last craze ! ' ' 



33 



BUT WHAT DOES GOD SAY? 

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life; and they are they which testify of me. 
—St. John V, 39. 

Saviour, the nation is blazing the way 

To the bottomless pit with what the worms ^ 

say,— 
Worms that slink in the darkness, that flee ^ 

swift to hell; 
For they deal in the chattels that all devils sell : 
Mr. A. A. says this, Mrs. B. B. says that 
And they barter the race ' ' at the toss of a hat 
Saviour, in might and in mercy to-day 
Call all straying souls back from this blasphem 

ous way! 

1 Joh xoov, 5f 6. 

2 Proverbs xxviii, 1. • 



>? 



34 



CAIN 

And Tie said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy 
brother's blood calleth to me from the ground. — 
Genesis iv, 10, 

red stain on my honor! 

Ne'er can I cleanse this hand, — 
Not though I wash with all the seas 

That lave the war-racked strand. 

And though I flee o'er ocean, 
Though I flee through the land, 

The burning brand still sears my brow, 
My guilt still gripes my hand; 

And earth's mouth, red and grisly. 

Cries out on every hand : 
**Too late, contrite murderer! 

Thy sin for aye shall stand." 



In all God's earth no refuge! — 
Hark, men, to His command: 

' ' Thou shalt not kill I ' ' and heed it, too. 
Or ever bear Cain's brand. 



35 



TRIUMPH 

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall 
fruit he in the vines. — Hahakkuk ii, 11. 

Enough for me, when you shall fold my tired 

hands at last, — 
When all the toil is over, and all the dreams are 

past, — 
If God, in all His heavenly love, shall generously 

say: 
' ' She hath done everything she could in her own 

woman's way. 
She hath in mercy folded a dying man's weak 

hands ; 
She hath brought the spell of comfort where a 

little cradle stands ; 
She let in a gleam of sunshine when everything 

was gloom; 
She hath held fast unto the faith at cradle and 

at tomb; 
She hath unclosed in mercy some captive sinner's 

bands, — 
Now give to her the recompense she hath won 

with her hands. ' ' 



36 



Enough for me, then, that will be, although the 

toil was hard; 
Although I found no spire of bloom upon the 

cold, brown sward, — 
Enough for me, too, that will be, although my 

ship went down 
Where all the chosen of the world might cast 

their jeer and frown; 
Enough for me, e ^en though I bore nor fruit nor 

fragrant bloom. 
If I held fast unto the faith at cradle and at 

tomb ! 



37 



JOSIAH A. 

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covet- 
ousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the 
things which he possesseth. — 8t. Luke xii, 15. 

Josiah A. is a great grandee, — 

Rich and famous both is he, — 

But once he was a barefoot boy, 

And that was the time of all his joy. 

All the bounties of earth he has bought or hired, 

But Josiah 's heart is aching and tired. 

He would give his all for that poor boy's zest 

For a stick of the candy he liked the best; 

For that boy's zest, when the sun rose high, 

For the dreams he'd call up as his task he'd 

ply; 

And that barefoot 's zest, when the sun went 

down. 
For a can of milk and a corn-cake brown; 
And that glad boy's thought that the sunbeam 

and star 
Are the true men's meed, wherever they are! 

Ah, the tricks of the mart that wither and scar, 
Instead of the sunbeam, instead of the star! 

38 



The shine of the vault filled with glittering gold, 
Instead of that boy's wondrous fortune untold! 
For out of the wreck of the poor who went down 
Have risen his feasting and his world-renown. 

Josiah A., with your gold and your fame, 

1 feel for your poverty, darkness, and shame ! 



39 



WHILE YOU LOITER 

/ must he about my Father's business. — ;8^*. Luke i% 49. 

Said the Devil to the Young Man: 

*^Go a little way with me; 
I will show you life upon the land, — 
Upon the Sea." 



Said the Young Man to the Devil : 

^ ' 1 11 go but a little way, 
For a higher duty tells me 
Not to stay/' 

Mocked the Devil at the Young Man : 
^^ While you've idly loitered nigh. 
Someone 's bound you fast in fetters :- 
It is I!'' 



40 



"AND THEN THEEE CAME A STILL 
SMALL VOICE" 

^ot hy might nor hij power, hut hy my spirit , saith the 
Lord, — Zechariah iv, 6. 

The great giant Love was *^ stark, stone dead''; 
So both the soldiers and surgeons said ; 
The great giant Love lay on the ground, 
And he would not stir, and he made no sound. 
Then sadly the spokesman shook his head : 
*^He is devil-drugged! Sirs, the giant is dead." 
'Twas known that no foeman could dare to 

wreak harm 
'Gainst the beat of his heart, 'gainst the strength 

of his arm ;- — 
But fierce battles raged on the sea and the land 
While the giant lay there, with a still, lifeless 

hand. 
And Grief, unrestrained, wantoned on sea and 

wild, 
Striking madly each man, — every woman and 

child. 
Woe lavished her tears till she could weep no 

more, 



41 



Then went, seeking surcease, through a world 

drenched with gore. 
On raged the red battles, till dead piled deep — 

deep ; 
While there lay the giant in his deathlike sleep 
The wise men drew nigh with their learning and 

skill; 
But no response came from the heart, pulseless, 

still. 
The "World ventured nigh, with her fair, painted 

face. 
And she offered him riches and gems and high 

place; 
And she sang to him there all her sweet siren 

songs ; 
And she told of her wealth and her griefs and 

her wrongs ; 
And she prayed for her life and her greatness at 

stake, 
But not all her pleas could the great giant wake. 
Then came the White Dove, — ^head bowed on her 

breast, — 
Speaking softly the words that the Dove loveth 

best; 
And the giant awoke, full of happy surprise. 
To exultantly look into her pleading eyes. 

42 



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